Victoria’s Secret is getting back into the fashion show business after backlash over its one-size-fits-all definition of sexy killed off the annual extravaganza two years ago.
“Our intention is to get back into the fashion show business in a culturally relevant way,” chief executive Martin Waters told investors in a conference call on Monday. “You should anticipate that the fashion show will be part of our business. We will redefine it,” Waters said.
Victoria’s Secret canceled the popular catwalk event featuring its famous “Angels” donning massive wings with their skimpy lingerie in 2019, after 24 years. The event was scrapped amid widespread outrage over the company’s refusal to include plus-sized or transgender models in the show.
Waters did not offer a timeline for when the new fashion shows would begin, but the comments come as the CEO attempts to overhaul the company’s image ahead of a planned spin off of the lingerie seller from parent L Brands next month.
As part of the rebrand, Waters has scrapped the controversial Angels, among other changes, in an effort to convince customers that the company that once defined women based on their proportions plans to become “the world’s leading advocate for women.”
The company on Monday also showed off a new marketing video with the tagline, ”You are welcome here,” peppered with images of plus-sized women and women of color.
Waters on Monday said the company will also offer maternity related products for the first time, as well as shaping products. In May, the company released its first ever Mother’s Day promotion centering on one of its former supermodel Angels, Grace Elisabeth, at nine months pregnant.
As The Post reported on Monday, Victoria’s Secret has also been redesigning its stores, removing dated imagery of the Angels in exchange for models of different shapes and sizes, as well more women of color.
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